diff --git a/muxplex/frontend/terminal.js b/muxplex/frontend/terminal.js
index 8045796..1e0de02 100644
--- a/muxplex/frontend/terminal.js
+++ b/muxplex/frontend/terminal.js
@@ -365,11 +365,12 @@ function openTerminal(sessionName, remoteId) {
 
   // --- Clipboard integration ---
   // Ctrl+Shift+C: copy selection to system clipboard (Ctrl+C still sends SIGINT)
-  // Ctrl+Shift+V: handled natively by xterm.js — browser fires paste event on xterm's hidden
-  //   textarea → xterm.js handlePasteEvent → prepareTextForTerminal → bracketTextForPaste
-  //   → triggerDataEvent → onData → WebSocket.  This path correctly handles both Unicode
-  //   encoding (TextEncoder) and bracketed paste mode (multiline protection).  Do NOT
-  //   intercept Ctrl+Shift+V here — every custom handler we tried broke one or the other.
+  // Ctrl+Shift+V: Ctrl+Shift+V does NOT trigger a native browser paste event (unlike Cmd+V
+  //   on macOS). We read the clipboard via navigator.clipboard.readText() and dispatch a
+  //   synthetic ClipboardEvent on xterm.js's hidden textarea. xterm.js catches this via its
+  //   built-in handlePasteEvent listener → prepareTextForTerminal → bracketTextForPaste
+  //   → triggerDataEvent → onData → WebSocket. This is the same path as Cmd+V and correctly
+  //   handles CR/LF normalization, bracketed paste mode, and UTF-8 encoding.
   _term.attachCustomKeyEventHandler(function(e) {
     if (e.type !== 'keydown') return true;
 
@@ -380,6 +381,24 @@ function openTerminal(sessionName, remoteId) {
       return false;  // prevent xterm from processing
     }
 
+    // Ctrl+Shift+V → paste from system clipboard via synthetic ClipboardEvent on xterm textarea.
+    // Dispatching on _term.textarea triggers xterm.js's built-in handlePasteEvent, which
+    // handles CR/LF normalization, bracketed paste mode, and correct UTF-8 encoding —
+    // the exact same code path as a native Cmd+V paste on macOS.
+    if (e.ctrlKey && e.shiftKey && (e.key === 'V' || e.code === 'KeyV')) {
+      if (navigator.clipboard && navigator.clipboard.readText && _term && _term.textarea) {
+        navigator.clipboard.readText().then(function(text) {
+          if (!text || !_term || !_term.textarea) return;
+          var pasteEvent = new ClipboardEvent('paste', {
+            clipboardData: new DataTransfer(),
+          });
+          pasteEvent.clipboardData.setData('text/plain', text);
+          _term.textarea.dispatchEvent(pasteEvent);
+        }).catch(function() {});
+      }
+      return false;  // prevent xterm from processing the raw key
+    }
+
     // Ctrl+F → open search bar
     if (e.ctrlKey && !e.shiftKey && (e.key === 'f' || e.key === 'F' || e.code === 'KeyF')) {
       _openSearch();
diff --git a/muxplex/frontend/tests/test_terminal.mjs b/muxplex/frontend/tests/test_terminal.mjs
index 92c65ae..d9a0470 100644
--- a/muxplex/frontend/tests/test_terminal.mjs
+++ b/muxplex/frontend/tests/test_terminal.mjs
@@ -993,21 +993,25 @@ test('terminal.js loads xterm-addon-image for inline graphics', () => {
   assert.ok(source.includes('ImageAddon'), 'must reference ImageAddon');
 });
 
-// --- Native paste: xterm.js handles Ctrl+Shift+V ---
+// --- Ctrl+Shift+V: synthetic paste event on xterm textarea ---
 
-test('terminal.js does NOT intercept Ctrl+Shift+V — lets xterm.js handle paste natively', () => {
-  // Regression: every custom paste handler we tried broke either multiline or Unicode.
-  // xterm.js's native paste pipeline (browser paste event → handlePasteEvent →
-  // prepareTextForTerminal → bracketTextForPaste → triggerDataEvent → onData → WS)
-  // handles both correctly. Fix: stop intercepting Ctrl+Shift+V entirely.
+test('terminal.js Ctrl+Shift+V dispatches synthetic paste event on textarea', () => {
+  // Ctrl+Shift+V does NOT trigger a native browser paste event (unlike Cmd+V on macOS).
+  // Fix: read clipboard via navigator.clipboard.readText(), then dispatch a synthetic
+  // ClipboardEvent on xterm.js's hidden textarea. This goes through xterm.js's built-in
+  // handlePasteEvent which handles CR/LF normalization, bracketed paste, and correct encoding.
   const source = fs.readFileSync(new URL('../terminal.js', import.meta.url), 'utf8');
   const handlerStart = source.indexOf('attachCustomKeyEventHandler');
   const handlerEnd = source.indexOf('// Auto-copy:', handlerStart);
   const handlerBlock = source.substring(handlerStart, handlerEnd);
-  const hasVIntercept = handlerBlock.includes("e.key === 'V'") || handlerBlock.includes("e.code === 'KeyV'");
-  assert.ok(!hasVIntercept,
-    'attachCustomKeyEventHandler must NOT intercept Ctrl+Shift+V — ' +
-    'xterm.js handles paste natively with correct encoding + bracketed paste');
+  assert.ok(
+    handlerBlock.includes("e.key === 'V'") || handlerBlock.includes("e.code === 'KeyV'"),
+    'attachCustomKeyEventHandler must intercept Ctrl+Shift+V to trigger paste',
+  );
+  assert.ok(
+    handlerBlock.includes('ClipboardEvent') || handlerBlock.includes('dispatchEvent'),
+    'must dispatch synthetic paste event so xterm.js handlePasteEvent handles encoding correctly',
+  );
 });
 
 // --- UTF-8 output decoding via TextDecoder ---